The two books are Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education
the second edition of the original text that brought Reggio to American classrooms. It is technical in some areas and very dry in others, but it is the main text that everything else has learned from and modified. The first two chapters have been quite enlightening and daunting. It starts off with a history of the area and what led to preschools and daycare centers being run in such a different way. While this is very interesting in theory, reading it was dull, and then they give a chapter by chapter introduction. This setting up of the book made me feel like I was in store for a lot of learning, but have learned nothing so far. The second chapter gave us the big lessons that can be learned from this approach. Again I was left with a feeling of anticipation of what I can learn, but still I was left with little as to what to do in my everyday classroom.
The other book is Bringing Reggio Emilia Home: An Innovative Approach to Early Childhood Education a book that is made up of vignettes of other peoples experiences in Reggio classrooms. I really had a hard time with the first chapter. It was mostly about this year long vacation this one women had in Italy where she worked in Reggio Emilia. It was a nice story, but left me with envy, and little take away for my classroom. Though some day I would love to put dress up where the coat hooks are, so children can undress from outside clothes and redress in whatever they want.
I'm sure I will learn more, and really can't wait to see how both these books change the way I teach. I became a teacher because I love to learn and watch others learn. I'm very excited to have this opportunity to learn more. We will see where this journey takes me.
Thanks for reading!
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